Updated March 26, 2009
The Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate is, according to some, Pakistan's shadowy equivalent of the Central Intelligence Agency. According to others, it is in effect a shadow government, one that has used its ties to drug dealers and Islamic extremists to stir up trouble not only in Pakistan but in Afghanistan and the Kashmir region of India as well.
In March 2009, American officials said in interviews that the Taliban's widening campaign in southern Afghanistan is supported by operatives in ISI, despite Pakistani government promises to sever ties to militant groups fighting in Afghanistan.